channel, and it is a driving force."

"Ye are getting awa from the main subject, deacon. It is the L2,000,
and ye had best mak up your mind to gie it to Davie. Then ye can gang
awa to your bed and tak your rest."

"You talk like a--like a woman. It is easy to gie other folks' siller
awa. I hae worked for my siller."

"Your siller, deacon? Ye hae naught but a life use o' it. Ye canna
take it awa wi' ye. Ye can leave it to the ane you like best, but that
vera person may scatter it to the four corners o' the earth. And why
not? Money was made round that it might roll. It is little good yours
is doing lying in the Clyde Trust."

"Jenny Callendar, you are my ain cousin four times removed, and you
hae a kind o' right to speak your mind in my house; but you hae said
enough, woman. It isna a question of money only; there are ither
things troubling me mair than that. But women are but one-sided
arguers. Good-night to you."

He turned to the fire and sat down, but after a few moments of the
same restless, confused deliberation, he rose and went to his Bible.
It lay open upon its stand, and John put his hand lovingly, reverently
upon the pages. He had no glasses on, and he could not see a letter,
but he did not need to.

"It is my Father's word," he whispered; and, standing humbly before
it, he recalled passage after passage, until a great calm fell upon
him. Then he said,

"I will lay me down and sleep now; maybe I'll see clearer in the
morning light."

Almost as soon as he opened his eyes in the morning there was a tap at
his door, and the gay, strong voice he loved so dearly asked,

"Can I come in, Uncle John?"

"Come in, Davie."

"Uncle, I was wrong last night, and I cannot be happy with any shadow
between us two."

Scotchmen are not demonstrative, and John only winked his eyes and
straightened out his mouth; but the grip of the old and young hand
said what no words could have said half so eloquently. Then the old
man remarked in a business-like way,

"I hae been thinking, Davie, I would go and look o'er Hastie's
affairs, and if I like the look o' them I'll buy the whole concern out
for you. Partners are kittle cattle. Ye will hae to bear their
shortcomings as well as your ain. Tak my advice, Davie; rule your
youth well, and your age will rule itsel'."

"Uncle, you forget that Robert Leslie is in treaty with Hastie. It
would be the height of dishonor to interfere with his bargain. You
have always told me n